Abstract

Global capital markets are experiencing high-speed transformation in their structural forms, notably characterized by cross-border strategic alliances and consolidation among stock exchanges. Is this the age of empire for the exchange? Do the changes regional and transcontinental cooperation efforts represent the early stage of institutionalized global capital markets - a capitalist manifest destiny? This paper examines the major stock exchanges' global expansion, "merger" and strategic alliance methods to date.

 Major consolidation and alliance announcements since 2000 are analyzed for the legal and structural forms employed, the motivations driving the creation of the alliance and the significant limitations on global stock exchange ambitions in the modern regulatory and political environment. I conclude that the dream of a truly global stock exchange may be farther off than the recent "merger" announcements would seem to indicate, and that functionally integrated capital markets may develop in less regulated environments in substitution for global capital stock exchanges, where demand for global services bumps up against regulatory constraints.